Leke Baiyewu, Abuja

Members of the Senate from the southern part of Nigeria on Friday began a conference on the governance and political structure of the country.

The two-day retreat by the Southern Senators Forum, which is holding in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, was tagged, ‘National Unity and Restructuring.’

In his keynote address at the opening session of the event, Depute President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, called for patience, more enlightenment and dialogue to actualise the restructuring of Nigeria.

He blamed opposition to restructuring to misconception and ethno-sectional suspicions.

Ekweremadu likened Nigeria to a vast building expected to accommodate a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious and politically diverse people, according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Mr. Uche Anichukwu.

He said, “To ensure equity, justice and prosperity of the various families and sections; and to allay fears of possible domination, our founding fathers settled for a federal constitution or structure after various conferences on the type of building, the architectural design, number of rooms and rules of cohabitation.

“Sadly, the rain started beating us from that fateful January coup, especially following the violation of the covenant of our fathers by the promulgation of Unitary Decree 1966. Although the July 1966 counter-coup was, among other things, predicated on the need to correct the General Aguyi Ironsi’s misadventure, subsequent regimes after him have steadily and deliberately corrupted the architectural design and undone all the foundations laid by the founding fathers.”

Punchng